Milos and Me
Trip dates: March 19, 2017 - March 21, 2017
*Warning: long post with way too many pictures below! Milos is just that beautiful!*
After a few brief but busy days in Santorini, we got up early in the morning to catch our ferry to our next Greek island destination, Milos! It was a super windy day and there was only one other person at the port, so we were a little worried if the ferry was even still running. Luckily, it was and, since it wasn't peak, we practically had the whole ferry to ourselves. It was an extremely comfortable ride, as we were able to spread out over a whole table area and both of us laid down to get a nice nap in on our 5+ hour journey.
We arrived on Milos without a hitch, in the port town of Adamantas. Since Milos is not as well-known of a tourist destination as Santorini or Mykonos or Crete, here's a brief overview! Milos is one of the larger Greek islands and is similar to Santorini in that it also has a caldera. Milos claim to fame is that this is the island where the famous Aphrodite statue, Venus de Milo (currently in the Louvre), was found! Most of the towns are situated on the northern end, including Pollonia and Plaka. Milos is known for having tons of beaches, at least 70+ I believe, with some that are only accessible from the water. There are roads around the island but the farther southwest you go, the more the road deteriorates and there are some coastal areas that can only be reached by 4x4 or by foot (more on that later). We were told it gets pretty crowded in the peak months of May - August, but while we were there in March, it was all locals and us. We didn't see any other tourists around our time there, granted it was only for a couple days. Less crowded, more rugged and wild? Sounds like the perfect island for us!
After a quick bite to eat and checking in to our hotel (of which we were the only guests), we got our rental car and headed off to our first destination! We got a nice, solid 4x4 Jeep since, as mentioned above, some of the roads on the island are not so great. Meet Jay, our companion for the rest of our time on Milos!
Our first stop was going to Sarakiniko "beach", which was only about a 15min drive from Adamantas. I say "beach" because it's along the northern coast of the island and you can go swimming, but it's unlike any beach you've ever seen. There's no sand anywhere. Instead, it's made up of these greyish-white rocks that have been smoothed out into some crazy shapes by the wind and waves over the ages. With the whole place to ourselves, we felt like we were on the surface of another planet or the moon or something. Needless to say, we had a great time exploring and taking way too many photos!
After spending longer than planned at Sarakiniko, we headed towards the western side of the northern tip of Milos in the hopes of catching the sunset. We stopped at the little fishing town of Klima along the way, which is known for the colorful houses (called syrmata) built right into the cliffs of the coast. When we arrived, there wasn't anyone around so we just walked along the coast past the houses for a bit. It kind of felt like we were trespassing though - where were all the fishermen?
After our brief stop in Klima, we tried to go to Plaka. We figured we could catch sunset at Plaka castle and then have dinner in town. Well, we had a hell of a time figuring out how to get around before finally discovering that Plaka was walking only. The sun was on its way down at this point and it was getting really chilly out; we, of course, didn't have our jackets so... we bailed on that idea. Instead, after several tries, we left the Plaka area and ended up going towards Plathiena beach and Fourkovouni, which is another fishing village further north along the coast from Klima.
We ended up parking on a hill between Plathiena beach and Fourkovouni, where we ended up catching one of the most amazing sunsets of our trip. The sky was painted in vivid hues of pink and orange and was just absolutely beautiful. What a great intro and first day on Milos!
As the sky grew dark, we headed back to Adamantas for dinner. Near our hotel, there were 2 or 3 restaurants open and our options were gyros or... gyros. So we chose gyros! Our dinner at O Gyros tis Milos was one of the tastier meals we've had on the islands yet - so much so we'd end up coming back the next night.
The next day, we planned to go to Kleftiko - which is the most iconic rock formation of Milos. We stopped by a bakery first on our way out to get some provisions for breakfast and lunch. We got an assortment of goodies and even got to sample a traditional Milos cracker!
Sidebar: this is an example of why we loved Milos so much, 100x more than Santorini. All the locals were extremely friendly and super excited to share their Milos-specific culture with us. (We didn't even know that Milos had their own culture and food, pretty cool!) Just walking around, almost everyone would actually make eye contact and smile; some would even stop to exchange a few words, even though most of them spoke limited English. Everyone would ask if we were enjoying Milos. We didn't experience anything like that in Santorini, where it felt like the locals there interacted with you only because they wanted you to buy something.
After we got our food for the day, it was time to go to Kleftiko beach! Now if you do any preliminary research into visiting Milos, Kleftiko beach is sure to come up as one of the must-visits while on the island. The other thing you'll see is that you can only get to this beach by boat. Well, that's not exactly true. You can actually drive to a trailhead and then hike to Kleftiko beach; it's just not the easiest or most tourist-friendly way to get there. Since none of the boat tours were running in March though, this was our only way to get there!
Luckily, while not as well-advertised, there have been plenty of people that have also made their own way to Kleftiko. The most detailed instructions that we found are here, if you want to visit on your own as well!
Following the instructions, we took Jay along the south coast of Milos, heading towards the southwestern point. The road became less of a road even before we got near the town of Xyloteria and we were so grateful to have Jay! By the time we passed the town of Xyloteria, the road just felt like some rock that had been blasted and kind of sort of formed a path. The pictures below don't properly portray the condition of the road or the deep cracks and grooves that you have to slowly drive over.
Finally, we were able to find the trailhead. The trailhead used to be marked by a flag, but now it's just a pole with a couple piles of rocks on either side to mark the entrance. Very easily missed, unless you know that it's about 3km further from town and what you're looking for. We just parked right by the trailhead since no one else was around and began our hike.
The terrain was pretty easy initially, very dry and desert like with lots of shrubs around. After a while of flat ground, you'll hit more rocky parts with more uphill. There isn't a super clear path but past tourists have made rock piles and painted rocks white so it's not too difficult to figure out which way to go.
As we hiked, we'd get occasional views of the sea and sometimes the Kleftiko arch, and it just always seemed so far away. It felt like we were hiking past and further away from the arch and then all of a sudden, we were there! The hike ended up taking us about an hour - my tracker says it was just a little under 1.5miles. It felt much longer in the sun, so make sure you pack plenty of water if you go!
We eventually made it to Kleftiko beach! Similar to Sarakiniko, this beach isn't really a beach. There isn't any facilities or sand, and only a few areas for accessing the Aegean. We scrambled around and over the rocks, taking tons of pictures as we explored our little private part of the island.
There's a small narrow inlet that leads to a bigger cove, with several natural cave formations. The story goes that the iconic arch and surrounding caves were supposedly secret hiding spots used by pirates to get in and out, and also to hide their booty. Since I was so hot from the hike and the sun was pretty strong, I decided that I would go for a dip and try to check out the closest cave. Oh my was the Aegean Sea freezing cold in March! It took me a good couple minutes to get myself fully submerged but, once I was in, it wasn't so bad at all. Only later did someone tell me that March was probably when the Aegean was the coldest! (Apparently, Milos is great for visiting in September because it's emptier but the sea is still warm.) Eric, the sane person that he is, decided to stay onshore.
We didn't see a single person or boat the whole time that we were at Kleftiko. It was amazing having this area to ourselves, as there are tons of boat tours filled with people that go there when it's peak season.
As the afternoon wore on, it was time for us to leave as we still had to hike back out and drive along the rumbly roads back to civilization.
Since we were already on the south side of the island, we decided to try and check out some other beaches before we headed back to Adamantas. We tried to go to Tsigrado Beach first, which is just a little bit after where the road turns to head back north to civilization.
Tsigrado beach is supposed to be a beautiful little emerald cove and, like many other beautiful sites in Milos, quite difficult to get to. First, you have to climb down the sand hill. Then, you'll see a chasm with a ladder and a rope. Once you go down the ladder, there's a small slide before you get to a second ladder and then some other stuff before you reach the beach. I went down the first ladder, but wasn't able to go further. The sides of the chasm are loose sandy red rock and I couldn't get a footing. I probably could have squeezed through and slid down on my butt, but then I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get back up. Plus, I could see a part of the beach and it looked like the tide was pretty high and flooded so we decided, neh this beach wasn't worth our effort :)
So on we went to the next beach over, which ended up being one of our favorites on Milos! (Though to be fair, most of the beaches we went to were our favorites). Firiplaka is literally the next beach over from Tsigrado, you just turn down the other fork and can drive all the way down to the beach.
Firiplaka beach is a huge stretch of sand with beautiful, colorful cliffsides. It looks like there's even some small convenience stands on the beach when there are actually tourists there. We ended up spending way more time here than expected, and decided to stay and catch the sunset before leaving. The sunset was pretty, though not quite as amazing as the night before.
Part of the reason we spent so much time at Firiplaka is because I discovered some natural art tools on the beach. The cliffsides are full of different colored rocks. We inadvertently came across some red rocks and, when I rubbed it on the lighter colored rocks, it made a orangeish-rouge color. So I then proceeded to find some white stones to create a little art gallery. If you go to Firiplaka beach on Milos in the near future, let me know if my art gallery is still there!! :)
As the sun set at Firiplaka, we made our way back to Adamantas. Along the way, we saw some vivid pink colors similar to the night before at Papikinou beach.
We then went back to O Gyros tis Milos for dinner. We thought we ordered less food this time but it was still way too much!
It was our last day on Milos but our ferry wasn't leaving to take us back to Athens until midday. We decided to make the most of our time on Milos so we went back to Sarakiniko one last time before heading out... and took way too many photos again! We just couldn't help ourselves; the Aegean was so clear and blue and there are so many unique formations at Sarakiniko, we were compelled to keep taking more pictures!
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Jay and goodbye to Milos. This island is so beautiful, and the people are so nice; it's easy to say that this was my favorite part of our time in Greece by far. I just love all the natural formations and how rugged and wild this island is, and how it feels like there's still areas that have yet to be explored.
Goodbye Milos - I can't wait to come back and explore more. There are so many other beaches to check out, I still need to figure out how to get to the Cave of Sykia, maybe discover a new beach of my own, explore the catacombs... Yes Milos, I'll definitely be back!
